A biological specimen from a living (e.g., a human patient) or nonliving source (e.g., a food preparation surface) may be obtained via a sample acquisition device for bioburden testing. Bioburden testing may include, for example, the determination of the number of organisms with which the specimen is contaminated. For example, a sample from a patient's open wound may be acquired in order to determine whether the wound is contaminated with potentially hazardous microorganisms.
One type of conventional sample acquisition device is a medical swab with a fibrous nonwoven (e.g., rayon) tip at one end of a stem. A user may manually handle the swab by grasping the stem and placing the swab tip in contact with selected tissue cells or other biological specimens, e.g., from within the ear, nose, throat or open wound of a patient. Some of targeted tissue cells or biological specimens adhere to the swab tip, thereby defining a biological sample for analysis. Tests that may be performed with the acquired sample include, for example, fluorescent tests, enzymatic tests, monoclonal based tests, agglutination tests, and the like.